I heard about Pinoli a while ago, and since all the pine nuts that I used to get in NZ just didn't seem to taste right, I decided to try the new NZ home grown variety. My Italian readers will notice the name (pinoli means pine nuts in Italian) and yes, it is quite typical here to give a product a 'brand' name like this. Do we ever do it with English names in Italy? I can't think of any at the moment, but let me know if you do!
But back to Pinoli (the brand). The nuts are fresh and quite big and long, and once toasted they smell and taste good, so I was very happy to buy them (yes I bought them, this is not an ad.). The price is reasonable, they may look expensive to those who are not used to buy pine nuts, but so they should be: they are not cheaper in Italy either and you need a lot of pine cones to get a few nuts out!
I mostly use them for pesto and savory dishes, but they are great for sweet stuff too (btw, did you see this Japanese dish with pine nuts??) and since I am a cupcake fanatic I though of sprinkling a few over one of my favorite recipes, the Vanilla cupcakes basic recipe from Party Food for Girls (but this time I used lemon zest instead of vanilla)
Pinoli Cupcakes
Ingredients
120 g butter
3 eggs
130 g sugar
1/2 tsp lemon zest
200 g self-rising flour
60 ml milk
A few Pinoli pine nuts to sprinkle on top
Makes
12 cupcakes
Preheat
the oven to 175°C. Line a 12-muffin tray with cupcakes paper cups.
Melt the butter in a jug, either
in the microwave or in the oven (while the oven is warming up for the cupcakes).
Place the eggs and sugar in a mixing bowl and whisk, using an electric beater,
until the mixture looks light and pale yellow in colour. Slowly add the melted
butter and the lemon zest. Keep beating at a low speed now; add
half of the flour followed by half of the milk. Add the rest of the flour and
milk and keep beating making sure that there are no lumps. Divide the mixture
between the 12-cupcake cases and sprinkle a few pinoli pine nuts on top.
Bake for about 18-20 minutes,
until golden brown at the top. You can also check by inserting a toothpick into
the cupcakes: if it comes out clean the cupcakes are ready. Remove the cupcakes
from the tin and let them cool down. The Pinoli don't need to be toasted before baking: they will toast while baking, and the cupcakes will smell delicious!
Photos and Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini ©
I pinoli sono favolosi e si sposano con mille ricette! Nei cupcakes non li ho mai provati, i tuoi sono venuti benissimo! Ciao, a presto :-)
ReplyDeleteAnch'io non li avevo mai provati nei cupcakes, ma sono contenta di averlo fatto e riproverò presto perché sono piaciuti a tutti!
DeleteCiao Ale, ben trovata!!!! Ottimi i tuoi cupcakes ai pinoli :)
ReplyDeleteActually, it's very curious the name of this brand! Pinoli are so delicious! And these cupcakes are simply beautiful! ^_^
ReplyDeleteI know the name is curious for Italians :-), but easy to remember!
DeleteWe here at Pinoli ltd are delighted with the interest in our Pine nuts. Enjoy!
ReplyDeleteLee Paterson
I did, thank you :-).
DeleteAleee grazie per le tue visite al mio blog..ricambio di cuore. Le tue ricette sono sempre molto invitanti come questi cupcake ai pinoli. Un bacione Ale.
ReplyDeleteChe acarini che sono!Poi il sapore sublime dei pinoli mmmmmm!bacione e buon we!
ReplyDeleteSono molto carini!Chissa che buoni!Bellissima foto come sempre!Un bacione forte!
ReplyDeleteOh your cupcakes looks absolutely cute, and I'm sure the're delicious too! I'm gonna try :)
ReplyDeletePine nut cupcakes? These sound delicious, I love a bit of crunch. My parrot, an african grey, would gobble these down too, Hehe!
ReplyDeleteAlso, you asked me about the "Pin it" button on my blog. I replied to your comment, not sure if you've seen my answer? Basically, I said it's not a gadget but hard coded HTML in the depth of your blog template. If you don't know HTML, I wouldn't recommend trying to do this as if you inadvertantly add/remove a bit of code, it can screw your whole blog up. However, since I did mine myself and know what I'm doing, I can add it in for you, if you trust me enough. I won't take it personally if you don't want to. If you do, email me at sweet2eatblog @gmail dot com
-Lisa.
Sweet 2 Eat Baking
I saw that Lisa and I thought that I could do it, but I cannot find the data:post.body/ ... I got sore eyes looking for it! where is it???? For the time being I just put it on the side bar :-).
ReplyDeleteWhen you open the HTML editor, on the top right of the code window is a checkbox where you can expand widget codes, click that and ctrl/cmd+f to find that piece of code you need.
DeleteHope that helps further.
-Lisa.
Sweet 2 Eat Baking
sono bellissimi questi cupcake, io non amo particolarmente i pinoli sinceramente, ma è un problema mio perchè piacciono a chiunque (un po' come quando dico che non mi piace la Nutella.....)...bravissima :)
ReplyDeleteDivine cupcakes, Alessandra. I heard recently about the New Zealand grown pine nuts (Pinoli), but I haven't come across them in any of our stores down here yet. Love the combination of pine nuts and lemon zest - bet the flavour and aroma is amazing.
ReplyDeletexo
Sue, maybe check with Slow Food Marlbourgh, they are not far from you and just had an event visiting the Pinoli farm, their website is here http://www.slowfoodmarlborough.org.nz/
DeleteSono deliziosi ^_^ Mi piacciono un sacco i pinoli, combinazione perfetta col prifumo del limone. Un bacione, buon we
ReplyDeleteSi vanno benissimo con la scorza di limone ;-)
Deleteeh si i pinoli sono sempre costosi...e poi così delicati, ma sono anche molto buoni...me li immagino nel dolcetti :)
ReplyDeletepensa che da piccola andavo in un campeggio in pineta della Romagna e ne raccoglievo tantissimi...un saccone pieno...
un abbraccio
Che lusso!! A volte penso alle cose che raccoglievo da piccola, non compravamo un mucchio di cose che trovavamo nei boschi e prati, ed a comprarle sono costosissime :-)!
DeleteI just you are a cupcake fanatic hehehe... A quite long time ago, I initiated Cupcakes Spectacular event, I thought you might like to host another one this year? Let me know :)
ReplyDeleteThese pinenuts are bigger than usual pinenuts sold in NZ. I wonder if our pinenut trees are going to produce that big in a few years time.
Tell me more about it :-). And yes, I am a cupcake fanatic!
DeleteGorgeous cupcakes & yes I love those Pinoli too.
ReplyDelete